UK Confiscation in the Wake of Tom Hayes
In January 2016, the Home Affairs Select Committee launched an Inquiry into the effectiveness of the UK’s proceeds of crime regime. It is anticipated that the Inquiry will hone in on the legal concept of ‘criminal benefit’ and how the UK enforcement authorities broadly define this concept when assessing the benefit obtained by defendants as […]
The Panama Papers have captured the public’s and the legal community’s attention, with blockbuster disclosures of the offshore dealings of various prominent persons. The investigation so far has been controlled by a team of journalists from various organizations, who have access to a purpose-built database of an estimated 11 million computer files, and have been […]
The Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) will wave goodbye to 2015 with a few triumphs under its belt, but what will 2016 bring for David Green? 2015 was a year of “firsts” for the SFO: Tom Hayes was the first person to be tried for the manipulation of Libor. He was sentenced in August to 14 […]
On Monday, 30 November 2015, the High Court Judge, Lord Justice Leveson handed down the first ever approval of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA“) following a three-year investigation conducted by the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO“) after London ICBC Standard Bank admitted failure to prevent bribery under Section 7 of the Bribery Act. The case relates […]
More than five years after Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), long-time industry players are still struggling to understand the full breadth of the law. Prior to Dodd-Frank’s passage, “spoofing” was common practice on Wall Street and was considered “unprosecutable.” Although there is considerable ambiguity as to the meaning […]
“Spoofing” Almost Crashed the Stock Market, But Is It Fraud?
May 6, 2010 was a bad day on Wall Street. Concern over the European debt crisis — fueled by news of violent anti-austerity protests in Greece the day before — pushed the S&P down 4% soon after opening. But things soon got even worse, turning May 6, 2010 into “one of the scariest days in […]
On 19th August 2014 HMRC published new consultation documents outlining the Government’s proposals to prevent individuals hiding money offshore to evade tax. The central plank in HMRC’s strategy is introducing a new strict liability offence of having taxable income offshore without declaring it to the authorities. These consultation documents add flesh to the bones of […]
It is often highlighted that the SFO are now taking on fewer cases. Rather than viewing this as a failure though, this should perhaps be seen as the realization of Lord Roskill’s intention, more than 25 years ago, that the Office should take on only the largest and more complex cases. The Director has specifically […]